


In the Blink of an Eye

by IcyPanther



Series: Blink [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, BAMF Lance (Voltron), Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Character Death, Lance (Voltron) Angst, Team as Family, Wormhole
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-26
Updated: 2020-01-26
Packaged: 2021-02-27 09:15:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,773
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22424683
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IcyPanther/pseuds/IcyPanther
Summary: “We stick together,” Shiro said quietly as he eyed the glowing wormhole that had already sucked in most of his team. “Follow them.” And Atlas dove into the abyss.Or; where all of the Atlas crew and Team Voltron minus Lance wind up in time rift and when they emerge they find that not only has Earth changed so too has their Red Paladin. But no matter how many years have passed Lance is and always will be their family.
Series: Blink [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1613788
Comments: 120
Kudos: 713





	In the Blink of an Eye

**Author's Note:**

> **Timeline notes:** post season seven, AU-ish?  
>  **Warning notes:** none  
> If you enjoyed the fic please do take a moment to leave a comment with what you liked about it. What takes you **minutes** to read can take an author **hours** , if not **days, weeks** or even **months** to create. Please show your authors appreciation for all their hard work, free of any cost to you. Thank you to those who do so, it means a lot ♥

“Pull back! Everyone pull back now!” 

Even as he said it Shiro could feel the futility of the command.

They were caught. 

The Atlas, the MFE Pilots, the Voltron Lions… All of them were being sucked into a widening hole crackling with purple light and one Shiro knew on sight although he had yet to ever see one on a planet before.

A wormhole.

Except this one had not been of Allura’s making nor the Atlas’. He had one, single guess.

Haggar.

Which meant this entire battle had been a trap. 

“-- _ro, can’t--- los--”_ Pidge’s panicked voice crackled over the comms as she and the Green Lion were pulled closer and closer despite all thrusters flaring. 

“Pidge!” Shiro yelled, as if it would do anything, hands tightening on his own controls, faintly hearing others from Voltron crackling on the feed too.

A scream sounded in Shiro’s ear as Nadia’s ship lost the battle and went hurtling through the portal.

Pidge followed a moment later.

She was… gone.

Pidge was gone.

Members of his team were gone.

What...

“Captain!”

“Captain Shiro!”

“What do we do?”

The Atlas’ crew was shouting, still barely audible over the warning sirens and flashing lights.

Shiro didn’t know how to answer them. 

They couldn’t pull back.

They couldn’t do anything against the wormhole.

“Shiro,” the voice was soft and Shiro nearly startled as a dark hand landed on his shoulder.

Veronica.

Lance’s older sister. 

Reminding him once more, as if the absence of Voltron hadn’t been enough, that Lance wasn’t here, beyond sick with a nasty flu back at the Garrison and sidelined for what they’d thought would be an open and shut fight with remnant Sendak forces on Earth.

Would Voltron have made the difference?

He didn’t know. He didn’t think so. 

She didn’t ask him a question, didn’t demand an answer.

She waited.

It made Shiro’s decision, even moreso as he watched as Hunk and the Yellow Lion were sucked in and the Black Lion -- _Keith_ \-- was ripped off the ground from where he’d been trying to hold onto the Blue Lion and they began to spiral for it.

Only Atlas’ bulk was keeping them from being uprooted but it was only a matter of time.

“We stick together,” he said quietly. 

He eyed the glowing hole.

“Follow them.”

And Atlas was swept into the abyss. 

xxx

What felt like not even a minute later although Shiro knew time was relative in a wormhole there was literal light at the end of the tunnel.

“Go go go!” he shouted as Atlas groaned around him, as he frantically counted ships to make sure everyone was accounted for -- four MFEs, four Lions, and of course the Atlas -- before they went through.

He wouldn’t leave anyone behind.

He had no idea where they were going but they were going there together.

The Atlas was subsequently the last one through the portal and Shiro was not the only one who groaned at the sudden bright light after the near darkness of the wormhole.

And he was not the only one who inhaled sharply as their surroundings came into view.

They were on Earth.

The same Arizona desert, the same pounding sun.

The same battle. 

Enemy fighters were whooshing past them and Shiro faintly heard himself yell for shields with the last of their remaining power as he tried to make sense of it.

Had the wormhole…

Failed?

They were right back where they’d started, everything was--

No.

No everything was not the same.

Because the Red Lion was on the battlefield.

“Lance!” he heard Veronica call from behind him.

Static crackled in all of their headsets.

The Red Lion wasn’t linked to the Atlas.

And…

And that wasn’t the Red Lion Shiro was familiar with.

Even from the distance he could see that it wasn’t as sleek as usual; dinged and beaten down with scratches gouged into the left flank. There were panels of some sort all around the neck and as Shiro watched they flared out -- like a Lion’s mane, almost -- and repelled a large yellow blast from an enemy ship, sending it back at double the size.

The cruiser exploded.

And as parts went sailing past Atlas’ front window Shiro realized something else.

That was not the same battle cruisers they had been fighting.

These ones were not Galra purple but were silver and had a different insignia on them.

This…

This was a different battle.

And maybe...

Maybe a different universe.

His head spun at the implications.

The Red Lion though was the only Voltron Lion he could see, aided by two smaller versions of ships similar to the MFEs, and it…

It was _decimating_ the enemy.

Shiro had always known the Red Lion was fast. He knew whoever piloted it had to be just as quick on the uptake. But this…

This was breathtaking and he could appreciate it even around the confusion and fear beginning to take root as pieces fell together.

He’d never seen anything like it as the Lion dodged and weaved, returning fire and rebounding attacks as though it was easy as breathing. The Lion flew within a hair’s breadth of the downed Yellow Lion, somersaulted, blew back an incoming missile with a burst of fire, and in the same movements its tail lashed to the side and took out another one aimed for the Green Lion.

“-- _iro, are you see--?”_ Keith crackled in.

“ _\--that La--?”_ came Hunk’s call, and even if that short bit Shiro could hear his confusion, his fear and his pride. 

Shiro didn’t respond.

He didn’t know what to say.

Voltron had once disappeared for three years.

Had… had they just vanished for years again?

How…

How much time had passed?

Was that even Lance?

They’d find out soon. The Red Lion took out the last two enemies in a burst of fire and a ringing silence settled over the landscape, broken only by the popping and small explosions as downed ships continued to burn. 

“Everyone,” Shiro tapped into the system wide headset. “Disembark.”

Because even though everything was different here, there was no way that the Red Lion was their enemy. 

Shiro felt like he was in a dream as he and the main cabin crew of the Atlas, support staff filing out of a different door, stepped into the desert, heat immediately assaulting them but Shiro welcomed it as the rest of him felt like it was made of ice.

He was aware of the MFE pilots and Voltron Paladins exiting in his peripherals, but all of his focus was on the Red Lion now parked in front of them and the figure exiting down the ramp.

They were wearing the Red Paladin armor which, like the Lion, had seen better days. 

Shiro couldn’t see their face. 

Instinct told him to stand still, be on guard.

It told him this figure was trustworthy.

It told him that everything was different.

And as the figure approached and pulled off their helmet Shiro felt like he’d been suckerpunched and Veronica faltered next to him.

It was Lance.

A much older Lance.

Same brown hair, same tan skin and ocean eyes.

But his face more even more angular, sharper. A scar ran from messier looking bangs down the length of his face to mid-cheek on the left side.

The eye it cut through even from here was milky.

Shiro’s heart stuttered.

Lance was half-blind. 

That didn’t stop the blinded eye from widening and tears staring to spill over.

Veronica _sprinted_ past Shiro, Lance’s name on her lips. He saw a blur of yellow from the left.

They crashed into Lance in a tangle of limbs and sobs a moment later. 

Shiro kept walking, one slow step after another.

His feet felt so heavy. 

His head and heart moreso.

It had happened again.

In the blink of an eye one day had become _years_ once more to their loved ones.

And in the meantime…

Lance had…

The others…

Who…

Who was still here?

What else had they suffered?

By the time Shiro had reached them the other Paladins had already arrived and had Lance wrapped up in one giant hug while the MFEs and other crew members had made their way towards the other two pilots who had come from the smaller ships, recognizing the family reunion and no doubt in just as much shock as Shiro felt.

“Lance,” Shiro breathed, the name barely audible to himself but somehow Lance heard it as he looked up from where his face had been buried in Pidge’s hair and met Shiro’s gaze, now on level with him, taller than Hunk, God, how much time had passed?

“Shiro,” he whispered.

He sounded exactly the same. 

Shiro entered the hug with a choked sob.

And at least for that moment everything felt right.

xxx

Five years.

They’d been gone for five years.

It had been a trap, Lance quietly explained as the Paladins plus Veronica all gathered in a Garrison conference room, the others being briefed elsewhere as Medical ran checks. Lance though hadn’t let go of Veronica or Hunk’s hands and the medical staff had inclined their heads with a murmured and respectful, “Admiral Esposito,” and let him usher them for now into this room.

Admiral.

Shiro’s head reeled.

Lance was the same rank Sanda had been. The… the highest ranked person in the Garrison.

Lance gave a brief recap, more pointed than he had ever been before.

It had been a trap created by Haggar, or Honevera as she went by now, to remove Voltron and the Atlas from play so she could take over the universe without real opposition.

Well, and Lance had grinned in a way that made Shiro’s heart ache because it wasn’t the joyful smile of the past but something darker, something that had seen too too much even after all Voltron had been through and he’d felt Keith stiffen at his side as he saw the same, she had miscalculated.

He was still there.

And he wasn’t going down without a fight.

He and Coran, and Lance faltered ever so before quickly continuing and Shiro felt another stab in his chest that he couldn’t let himself focus on now, along with Colleen and Matt Holt and a number of others had taken charge in the fight for the Garrison as they were the only ones with practical, working knowledge of what Honevera was capable of.

She was attacking all of Earth but concentrating her efforts on the Garrison once it was clear one Lion of Voltron still remained.

Lance had paused there, barely audible, and gave voice to what Shiro had wondered only an hour ago to him.

If Lance had been at their battle, if Voltron had been able to be formed, would…

Would things have been different?

“ _We cannot change the past,”_ Allura had said softly, reaching a slim hand out and laying it over Lance’s -- ropy burn scars covering his right now that he’d removed his outer armor and gloves and how, how had he gotten them? -- _“so let us not dwell on it.”_

Pidge had piped in then with a string of numbers and statistics and probabilities that indicated no, Lance there would not have made a difference based on the severity of the wormhole and how quickly it had come on. 

Lance’s shoulders had slumped with a sigh of bone-deep weariness and relief. Shiro figured he’d likely been told the same thing, numerous times, but…

But there was always that what if factor and Lance would be someone who would feel responsible where if he could have done something, anything, then…

 _“You were needed here,”_ Veronica had murmured, pressing a kiss to her brother’s cheek. _“Te quiero, hermanito. Estoy orgullosa de ti.”_

Lance had blushed, swallowed, and continued on with the barest rasp of tears.

The past few years had been… hard.

Shiro knew that was putting it lightly.

Sendak’s invasion had been about control. 

Honevra was only about destruction.

They were on a severe food shortage and water was difficult to obtain, all of the already limited wells in the area long since dry and dangerous excursions needed to bring it back not only to the Garrison but to other areas of Earth.

Universal allies were hard to come by as Honevera’s forces -- Alteans, Lance had said bitterly, not looking at Allura, that they had been unable to get through to -- were stronger, faster and smarter than the Galra under Sendak had been and they were spread all across the universe and as such they had to protect their own planets. 

Garrison forces were spread thin on Earth and they’d already had to abandon multiple bases and strongholds as they didn’t have the power to keep them. Haggar had stopped sending large armies against them -- as they’d seen today -- and instead preferred smaller contingents to batter away at their limited resources. 

But even as Lance continued to supply the grim statistics, how much they had lost, Shiro couldn’t help but hear all that they had _saved._ All the good they had done, all of the people who were still alive thanks to their efforts.

Except…

“ _Coran… Coran…”_ Lance’s throat had become thick, words stuck.

Coran had died.

Two years ago during an attack on one of their water caravans. 

There had been no body to recover.

Allura had collapsed, sobs shaking her, and Lance had tentatively put a hand on her shoulder, eyes widening as Allura had nearly thrown herself into his arms, clinging to his shirt. 

Shiro had caught the whisper as Lance bowed his head over her own.

_“I’m so sorry, ‘llura. I’m so sorry.”_

Hunk and Pidge had been openly crying too and Keith was trembling ever so at Shiro’s side. He’d wrapped his flesh arm about Keith and used his prosthetic to gently guide the other two to him, Veronica rising to embrace Pidge as well. 

They’d had a few minutes of silence, only sobs breaking it, before Allura had sat up, eyes red-rimmed and tears staining her cheeks, and asked Lance to continue. But she hadn’t moved from his arms and Lance didn’t seem inclined to let her go.

Lance had given them lighter news then; Colleen had gotten a new puppy from several they’d found on a patrol and named her Broccoli. Rachel, his sister, had gotten engaged. They’d found a long lost box of candy bars and they’d been distributed to anyone currently recovering in the hospital. Their main cook had figured out how to bake food goo and it had an actually pleasant texture now. They had weekly movie nights and, his lips had quirked, last night had been Disney’s Hercules and he’d gotten quite a few people to sing along.

He didn’t say anything about himself.

That absence spoke far more than if he’d said anything.

Shiro felt a swell of pride. Lance didn’t have to say it. They could see it. He hadn’t just grown up in those five years.

He’d become a leader. 

And Shiro had no doubt Lance had been a key component in holding everyone together through the attacks, through the tight rations and the press of hopelessness and desperation.

“Tonight…” Lance said softly after a few moments of quiet. “Tonight was your… your memorial ceremony.”

Shiro startled.

What?

“Five years to the date since you went missing,” he continued quietly. “Almost everyone thought… they thought you were gone. For forever. But I…” he looked up and one dark eye locked on Shiro’s before trailing about the room. “I knew. I knew you were going to come back. You’d come back and save us and--”

“No,” Shiro interrupted and Lance broke off, the barest flash of hurt crossing his face.

“No,” Shiro repeated. “We came back, but not to save everyone. To help. Because you, Lance,” he continued to hold that dark gaze, “you saved them.”

“I, I didn’t--”

“You did, _hermano,”_ Hunk murmured. 

“But--”

“Lance, shut up and take the damn praise,” Pidge snapped although it wasn’t harsh at all. 

Lance’s mouth snapped shut with an audible click and he gave a short, jerky nod.

His throat bobbed.

“I,” his voice was thick. “I really missed you guys.”

Shiro wasn’t surprised that a moment later another group hug was being formed, Lance once more at the center.

And although everything was different now one thing still was and would always be the same.

Lance was their family. 

And no matter how many years passed, no matter what happened, that would always remain true.

Lance was their family.

They loved him.

And they were so, so proud of him. 

**Author's Note:**

> A banked snippet fic from September requesting (in max 2.4k, dios that was a challenge xDD as you can see I went a bit over ^^;) a fic where Lance gets left behind on Earth in a time rift scenario post season-seven and the team comes back and sees how much he’s changed and impressed by his abilities. Phew! 
> 
> If you are enjoyed the fic please do take a moment to leave a comment with what you liked about it. What takes you **minutes** to read can take an author **hours** , if not **days, weeks** or even **months** to create. Please show your authors appreciation for all their hard work, free of any cost to you. Thank you to those who do so, it means a lot ♥ (There is a second piece to this, probably won't be uploaded until towards the end of the year. Please try to keep comments related to just this fic, I appreciate it.)
> 
> (Like my works? Want to read more? Visit my [Tumblr, icypantherwrites](http://icypantherwrites.tumblr.com/)).


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